A big hello to you all! I missed you! I’ve been away from the blogging scene for several weeks now but with good reason. It’s with great excitement that I share the news with you of the birth of our daughter! If you follow along on Facebook then you might have already read last Friday that our sweet pea had arrived, she is now 11 days old! So many of you have left sweet comments here as I’ve posted about my journey into motherhood and shared pregnancy progress pics and and I’m so glad I can finally share our joy with you all.
Without further ado, my hubby and I are thrilled to announce the birth of our sweet daughter, Lily Evangeline Davis!! We are already so in love with her. She was born on August. 30th at 11:00am weighing 6 lbs 15 oz and measuring 20.5″ long. She entered the world during a peaceful, gentle water birth surrounded by my amazing Midwife, Doula and Birth Assistant. It was really important to us that no drugs be used for pain or to induce labor and to avoid all interventions as much as possible, which I’m thankful to have achieved. I got to hold her immediately and daddy cut the cord. We could not have asked for a more perfect natural arrival of our little girl or more loving motherly care from the team at the Birth Center, we are beyond blessed and thankful. XO.
She is the love of our lives and while bringing her into the world was some of the hardest work I’ve had to do as a woman, it was the most rewarding. It was by far the best day of my life! I also have a renewed sense of how powerful and intuitive our bodies are and the strength that we as women have. We are stronger than we know! My favorite moment was when we both stared into each other’s eyes for the first time-it was magical!
Many of you have been sending messages wondering if she had arrived, thank you for your patience these last few weeks as I prepared our home, tied up loose ends before her birth and now am adjusting to becoming a new mom with a very different schedule that includes limited sleep as I know all you mamas can relate to.
Here is our little princess yawning below! I tried to snap a photo on her so you could see her face but she insisted on laying on her side. Surprise, she was born with a full head of dark hair! We never saw that coming, we were expecting a bald little blondie. LOL. Perhaps all this hair explains all the heartburn I experienced. We were both born with light hair, mine was white blonde and our families have fair hair with the exception of my husband’s father who had dark hair in his younger years. We’re curious to see how she changes and grows over the coming months and whose features she takes on. This picture below marks her 1st week of life as I begin a weekly photo project for her over the next 52 weeks, inspired by my favorite blogging duo at Young House Love.
Near the end of my pregnancy I was starting to get really hot, a bit uncomfortable and my focus was on purchasing last minute needed items for baby and enjoying the last few nights as well as dinners out just us two (including my birthday which was just 3 days before her own birthday) before she made her appearance. I didn’t get a chance to post the remaining bump update photos as I had planned.
Here are the last 2 sets of pregnancy progress photos taken at both 38 week and 40 weeks, just days before she was born. It’s funny to look back at these photos now and see how much my body had grown during that time and how just 10 days post-delivery, my body miraculously remembers how it was shaped before and everything has pretty much fallen back into place thanks to healthy lifestyle throughout pregnancy and some good genes on my mom’s side of the family-thanks mom! 😉 I’m still moving a bit slower though as my body heals itself and am looking forward to taking our little bambina out for walks very soon!
Thanks so much for following along with me during my journey through pregnancy! I’ll be sure to provide occasional updates with photos of Miss Lily as she grows. 🙂 We have her newborn photo session scheduled for this Saturday and I’m looking forward to having some professional photos as neither hubby or I are great photographers. Our baby girl will also be meeting her grandma and grandpa (Paul’s parents) for the first time too!
For all the moms reading…what fun ways did you use photos or other creative ideas to document the first year of your baby’s life? What was your favorite moment from your little one’s birth?
If you’re new here and missed the previous pregnancy bump updates, you can find them all here:
Pregnancy Announcement
16 Weeks
20 Weeks
24 Weeks Gender Reveal
28 Weeks
34 Weeks
XO
Congratulations, Karla!She is beautiful and she has such a lovely name.You were all baby. I bet you look fabulous.
Awe, so, so precious! And, what a brave woman to go natural all the way. I so believe it is the best way, but I was just not able to “go there.” Mine are now 34 and 37 and I have lived to tell about it. Blessings abundant!
Congratulations Karla!I don't have anything creative to tell you, but just take tons of pictures. Take pictures with you in them even if you feel like you look tired. My oldest (who is 5) loves to look at pictures of us when she was a baby. Children don't care that their mother's look tired or are in sweat pants…they just love seeing pictures of their mommy holding them. Your daughter will LOVE all the pictures of you pregnant with her. My favorite moment of my children's births is definitely watching my husband hold them for the first time. It's all so sweet and beautiful, but there is something special about seeing the man you love hold your child!
Congratulations Karla~I absolutely adore the name you chose for your precious little girl. Lily is one of my favourite names. Your entire family is lovely, and remember this is the most exciting times of your life. I would suggest writing Lily a letter. I know many do this through pregnancy, but, the first year of a baby's life moves so rapidly. Every day, write a little or a lot if applicable, about what Lily did that day and any other interesting moments that you may forget if you don't write it down. Then, we she is older, the three of you can go back and feel bewildered with a plethora of memories. God luck, dear and you make a beautiful mother!Love and Blessings,Bella
Beautiful. So very happy for you. Savor and enjoy every moment, even though it will be difficult at times. Just remember these days fly by so quickly.
Aw, thank you so much, Leigh for you congratulations and sweet words!! 🙂
Thanks Lea! We never know how things will turn out in the end,I just feel grateful that her birth was what I had been planning for and hoped for. I actually had a horrible dream about 2 weeks prior to her delivery which woke me up in tears and upset, of which I now believe was meant to provide me with a glimpse of other's realities, that I might have compassion and empathy for those who are robbed of the birth they dream of. However they get here though, healthy and thriving, they are all little blessings. It must be wonderful to watch your little babies grow up into adults, I'm sure you have a lot of great memories over the years. Blessings to you!
Thank you, Sarah! 🙂 I feel as though I've already been snapping a lot of photos on my phone and camera and a couple short little videos. I guess you can never have too many!! Such wise advice about taking photos no matter how you look/feel. It's more important to have those moments in time captured than to look perfect in them all. We took some photos on her second day and I was looking and feeling exhausted but I wanted to remember how things were at that moment, so new as we headed out the door to her Pediatrician appointment. There really is something so sweet about seeing your husband hold his child for the first time, it's even sweeter seeing him hold his little girl and he is so good with her, it just melts my heart. XO
Thank you, Leigh! I definitely will, everyone tells me how quickly it goes by so I'm really trying to embrace every moment, even the nights where I'm running on 1 hour of sleep or changing the diaper explosions. LOL. I cannot believe she's already 2 weeks old, the time really does fly!
Thank you so much, Bella! Your name is beautiful and Isabella was actually another option we had for her middle name. 🙂 This most certainly is the most exciting time for us, the day she was born was the happiest day for both of us, bringing life into the world just seems to trump everything else including our wedding day. I love the idea of writing Lily a letter. I kept a journal during pregnancy and have a journal for her first year of life but have not begun writing in it yet. It will be so wonderful to look back on these memories together. I appreciate all of your kind words. XXLove & Hugs,Karla
Congratulations, Karla!She is beautiful and she has such a lovely name.You were all baby. I bet you look fabulous.
Awe, so, so precious! And, what a brave woman to go natural all the way. I so believe it is the best way, but I was just not able to “go there.” Mine are now 34 and 37 and I have lived to tell about it. Blessings abundant!
Congratulations Karla!I don't have anything creative to tell you, but just take tons of pictures. Take pictures with you in them even if you feel like you look tired. My oldest (who is 5) loves to look at pictures of us when she was a baby. Children don't care that their mother's look tired or are in sweat pants…they just love seeing pictures of their mommy holding them. Your daughter will LOVE all the pictures of you pregnant with her. My favorite moment of my children's births is definitely watching my husband hold them for the first time. It's all so sweet and beautiful, but there is something special about seeing the man you love hold your child!
Congratulations Karla~I absolutely adore the name you chose for your precious little girl. Lily is one of my favourite names. Your entire family is lovely, and remember this is the most exciting times of your life. I would suggest writing Lily a letter. I know many do this through pregnancy, but, the first year of a baby's life moves so rapidly. Every day, write a little or a lot if applicable, about what Lily did that day and any other interesting moments that you may forget if you don't write it down. Then, we she is older, the three of you can go back and feel bewildered with a plethora of memories. God luck, dear and you make a beautiful mother!Love and Blessings,Bella
Beautiful. So very happy for you. Savor and enjoy every moment, even though it will be difficult at times. Just remember these days fly by so quickly.
Aw, thank you so much, Leigh for you congratulations and sweet words!! 🙂
Thanks Lea! We never know how things will turn out in the end,I just feel grateful that her birth was what I had been planning for and hoped for. I actually had a horrible dream about 2 weeks prior to her delivery which woke me up in tears and upset, of which I now believe was meant to provide me with a glimpse of other's realities, that I might have compassion and empathy for those who are robbed of the birth they dream of. However they get here though, healthy and thriving, they are all little blessings. It must be wonderful to watch your little babies grow up into adults, I'm sure you have a lot of great memories over the years. Blessings to you!
Thank you, Sarah! 🙂 I feel as though I've already been snapping a lot of photos on my phone and camera and a couple short little videos. I guess you can never have too many!! Such wise advice about taking photos no matter how you look/feel. It's more important to have those moments in time captured than to look perfect in them all. We took some photos on her second day and I was looking and feeling exhausted but I wanted to remember how things were at that moment, so new as we headed out the door to her Pediatrician appointment. There really is something so sweet about seeing your husband hold his child for the first time, it's even sweeter seeing him hold his little girl and he is so good with her, it just melts my heart. XO
Thank you, Leigh! I definitely will, everyone tells me how quickly it goes by so I'm really trying to embrace every moment, even the nights where I'm running on 1 hour of sleep or changing the diaper explosions. LOL. I cannot believe she's already 2 weeks old, the time really does fly!
Thank you so much, Bella! Your name is beautiful and Isabella was actually another option we had for her middle name. 🙂 This most certainly is the most exciting time for us, the day she was born was the happiest day for both of us, bringing life into the world just seems to trump everything else including our wedding day. I love the idea of writing Lily a letter. I kept a journal during pregnancy and have a journal for her first year of life but have not begun writing in it yet. It will be so wonderful to look back on these memories together. I appreciate all of your kind words. XXLove & Hugs,Karla